Tamey sukhi cho? For all that talk about its superb infrastructure and its work ethic, about the virtues of vegetarianism and of abstinence, and, of course, the sheer presence of Narendra Modi and Mallika Sarabhai, the denizens of Ahmedabad are India’s unhappiest city-dwellers, an opinion poll conducted by Outlook-Club Mahindra has found. Asked ‘Are you happy?’ only 8.8 per cent of (Ahmedabad-based) respondents said they were ‘very happy’; 42.1 per cent said they were ‘happy’. The 51 per cent total is the lowest among the 16 cities polled. To put this into context, the national average for happy urban people was 85.5 per cent. For the record, Jaipur tots up the maximum happiness, with a staggering 97 per cent of respondents saying they are happy.

On another front, respondents from Ahmedabad are the most concerned about corruption: 92.1 per cent of respondents from there feel that corruption is ruining their happiness; they want the government to take major steps to reduce corruption. Interestingly—and not surprisingly, given the stellar role played by the state in the 2G scam—Chennai’s citizens are least concerned about reducing corruption. Such happy insights abound in this exhaustive poll, which includes a happiness and unhappiness index.

The Outlook-Club Mahindra poll was conducted by MDRA in 16 cities (four from each zone): Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Calcutta, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Pune. A total of 2,014 respondents (men and women aged 25-50+ years) were polled using a structured questionnaire from October 15-22. As always, happy reading.

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It qualifies as lousy journalism to run a cover story on the happiness levels in a clutch of Indian cities (Over The Rainbow). Clearly, the absurdity of such a poll is evident in the questions that were popped at the citizenry—‘Are you happy or very happy?’ being my favourite—but what tops it all is your sample size: 2014! Quite a fine sample of people to assess happiness in a country of 1.2 billion.

V.S. Chauhan, Jabalpur

Though sample surveys are of doubtful efficacy as indicators of trends in a nation as vast and varied as India, it still will leave a person from Bihar with a smile on his face—if the figures in the column “% of people feeling happy” are anything to go by. At last, the jungle created by Laloo Prasad is modernising.

Rohan Harsh, Patna

According to the survey, success at work and a healthy bank balance are the primary cause of happiness for Hyderabadis while academic success and marriage are what make Bangaloreans happy. For Delhiites, it is falling in love, followed by academic success. Academic success has a very low score for Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, as also Calcutta. Good health, marriage and sex score high for Patna’s residents, while good sex apparently does nothing for Keralites and Gujaratis. Kochi in fact scores zero on the question of sexual pleasures. Must say: broad-sweep generalisations reflect nothing of life in metropolitan cities.

B.V. Gopal Rao, Warangal

Whatever the methodology you used to define “happiness”, one thing is obvious from the Outlook exercise: its obsession with the Narendra Modi government and Gujarat. Not sure whose “corruption” is killing the happiness of Ahmedabadis. As long as it’s made Outlook “happy or very happy”, it was not an entirely futile exercise.

Kautilya, Washington

What is the purpose of this survey? Are you running out of ideas to thrash Modi now?

Maha, New Jersey

In the ‘Unhappy’ and ‘Very Unhappy’ categories, Ahmedabad comes near the lower end of the scale. If you know the Gujarati psyche, they normally tend to stick to the middle ground: they will not boast about their good fortunes. This is clearly reflected in the stats.

Vikk Pandit, New Delhi

It is obvious that Ahmedabad would be the most miserable city. With no spirits, how can the spirits be high?

Thank you to all those who have taken the trouble to read the article and share their thoughts. Out of the arguments made here, there are two that perhaps need answering. So here they go.

1. The first part of the article compares outcomes (relative percentages of population of the religions concerned) irrespective of the process that led to those outcomes - whether immigration, relatively faster population growth or conversions. This was for two reasons. One, to put the figure of 2.3 per cent in "numerical perspective", as the article itself explained. The second reason was that outcomes are ultimately what the crux of debate is about. The rest of the article in any case dealt with process - or conversions in this case, from both a contemporary and historical perspective.

2. Some commenters have tried to cast doubts on the reliability of Census 2001. Those who do this should bear in mind that Census 2001 was conducted by a BJP government. Considering the extreme importance that BJP gives to this issue, it would be reasonable to expect that IF it had perceived a problem with the methodology that was distorting the numbers, it would have fixed it. As the article mentioned, BJP or BJP-supported governments have been in power for 10 of the last 40 years, or about a quarter of the time, and the only reasonable conclusion one can arrive at is that any misreporting of numbers, real or perceived, would be marginal and hence, not of importance.

To all other arguments made, my answer is the following: Please read the article again, with particular focus on the quotations of Vivekananda and Monier Williams, and the history of the missionary efforts in Bengal and their outcome.

Thanks and Regards,
Tony Joseph

14/D-64

Nov 25, 2011

12:41 PM

Do I look surprised? No,not at all.You were also the one who pulled out of your ass another survey a few years back similar in nature finding the fraud nun Teresa as the most popular figure in India which is still being quoted nationally and internationally. I forgot whether she was the most popular in Ahmedabad or a close second there.That's some credible survey you do to inform your readers.

>> "Moreover, if you know the Gujarati psyche, they normally tend to stick to MIDDLE ground, i.e. they normally would not tend to boast about their GOOD FORTUNES. "

That is definitely true and one part of the reason. Another reaaon is the aspirational hunger in Gujarat. They continually try to pursue further improvements - so, the phrases like "perfect", "very happy" do not mean much to them. They want to keep moving. Modi personifies that mindset.

In contrast, look at data for Calcutta and Patna. It takes an extraordinary sense of detachment from good life to be happy with what they have. But, then, who am I to comment on that. It's their life.

Once again shamelessly OUTLOOK displays its typical anti-Modi/Gujarat attitude in the interpretation of the data. Because in the UNHAPPY and VERY UNHAPPY category Ahmedabad comes near to the LOWER end of the scale. Moreover, if you know the Gujarati psyche, they normally tend to stick to MIDDLE ground, i.e. they normally would not tend to boast about their GOOD FORTUNES. This is clearly seen in the statistics too.

>> No wonder Ahmedabad is the saddest. It is being ruled by Modi. How can it be happy?

If you look at the statistics , Ahmedabad is among the least Unhappy (0.8%) much less than Bangalore , Bhubaneswar , Guwahati etc - with 9% .. Ahmedabad is next only to Pune and Indore (0%) with the least unhappy people . The article identifies Ahmedabad as the saddest as that would confirm to the popular opinion .

If the author takes the people who are neither happy nor unhappy as all unhappy ( as they are not happy) then it will be equally true to tag them all as happy ( as they are not unhappy either ) - which would rank Ahmedabad among the happiest cities - with 98.3% happy people.

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